Greater KuduSaturday, August 12, 2006
Oshili Ngini?
How are you?
I am starting to feel at home here in Oshivelo now! I will tell you some of the things I have done so far.
The other day I, Hofni and Kakweya was going out in the bush, collecting firewood. We hitched two donkeys to the cart and slowly (or actually quite fast when the donkeys were running) moved into the bush on the sandy tracks. Hofni is very skilled getting the donkeys were he wants and it was a quite relaxing ride. He uses the ropes to steer and a plastic pipe to hit the donkey’s behind to speed it up. After approximately a thirty minute ride we stopped looking for a good tree. We found a good one and used a big chopping axe to get it down. After about 2 hours of chopping (and me hanging in the tree swinging it back and forth) in the hot sun it finally fell. I insisted on helping with the chopping but it was clear my Namibian friends had swung an axe a few more times than me. The trees are very hard and dry and you often hit it by its length trying to split it up. Although I had not been chopping that much, I was very tired (and thirsty!) when we returned to the homestead with a full cart, after four hours in the sun.
Sometimes the cultural differences create funny situations, like the other day when I showed Kakweya pictures of my family. When I showed him a picture of my wonderful sister Freja (telling him this was my only sister) he said: oh, a fat one. (!) He did not mean to offend me or my sister but it is surely not the way we put it at home! (…and you are not fat Freja!)
Regarding the “African laziness” it differs widely. My friends Hofni and Kakweya for example; they work almost all the time and are saying that if a man don’t know how to work, he will probably get a woman that also don’t know how to work. On the other hand I have tried to gather the “SCORE-committee” two times already without anyone showing up! It is also quite funny how the police are just sitting around (they don’t even pretend to work).
There is lots of good music here! Some of the most popular names are The Dog, Gazza and Sunny boy and they all mix English, Afrikaans and oshiwambo in their lyrics. I will try to buy a CD in Windhoek.
On Thursday Beatrice moved in with us. She is a Mexican painter who is going to have a 3 week art workshop with kids from school here in Oshivelo. We went to Etosha National park to get approval and help from the Namutoni Lodge. I will tell you more about the project later. When Beatrice and the principal had a meeting with the director I and Barney took a drive in the park. It is a truly amazing wildlife there! It is a very big park but you could see lots and lots of animals from the car. It was a great experience!
Next weekend I will go to Windhoek for a planning meeting. I write to you then!
How are you?
I am starting to feel at home here in Oshivelo now! I will tell you some of the things I have done so far.
The other day I, Hofni and Kakweya was going out in the bush, collecting firewood. We hitched two donkeys to the cart and slowly (or actually quite fast when the donkeys were running) moved into the bush on the sandy tracks. Hofni is very skilled getting the donkeys were he wants and it was a quite relaxing ride. He uses the ropes to steer and a plastic pipe to hit the donkey’s behind to speed it up. After approximately a thirty minute ride we stopped looking for a good tree. We found a good one and used a big chopping axe to get it down. After about 2 hours of chopping (and me hanging in the tree swinging it back and forth) in the hot sun it finally fell. I insisted on helping with the chopping but it was clear my Namibian friends had swung an axe a few more times than me. The trees are very hard and dry and you often hit it by its length trying to split it up. Although I had not been chopping that much, I was very tired (and thirsty!) when we returned to the homestead with a full cart, after four hours in the sun.
Sometimes the cultural differences create funny situations, like the other day when I showed Kakweya pictures of my family. When I showed him a picture of my wonderful sister Freja (telling him this was my only sister) he said: oh, a fat one. (!) He did not mean to offend me or my sister but it is surely not the way we put it at home! (…and you are not fat Freja!)
Regarding the “African laziness” it differs widely. My friends Hofni and Kakweya for example; they work almost all the time and are saying that if a man don’t know how to work, he will probably get a woman that also don’t know how to work. On the other hand I have tried to gather the “SCORE-committee” two times already without anyone showing up! It is also quite funny how the police are just sitting around (they don’t even pretend to work).
There is lots of good music here! Some of the most popular names are The Dog, Gazza and Sunny boy and they all mix English, Afrikaans and oshiwambo in their lyrics. I will try to buy a CD in Windhoek.
On Thursday Beatrice moved in with us. She is a Mexican painter who is going to have a 3 week art workshop with kids from school here in Oshivelo. We went to Etosha National park to get approval and help from the Namutoni Lodge. I will tell you more about the project later. When Beatrice and the principal had a meeting with the director I and Barney took a drive in the park. It is a truly amazing wildlife there! It is a very big park but you could see lots and lots of animals from the car. It was a great experience!
Next weekend I will go to Windhoek for a planning meeting. I write to you then!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Oshivelo First Report
Ongepi!
Now I have been in Oshivelo for 7 days. I live in Mr. Marthinu’s (Barney) house; he is a teacher at the only school here. His wife and children live in Grootfontain, about 150 km from here so he often goes there in the weekends. He has one of the finest houses in Oshivelo, with electricity, TV, video, gas stove and running water (only cold). Barney speaks Oshivambo, the most common language in this region and the largest tribe language in Namibia. The other language in Oshivelo is Damara, recognized for its four different click sounds. Oshivelo is very poor and many people live in small huts made of trees or sheet metal. The people here are very friendly and there are lots of kids who want to play with me. The other day I went to the playing field with my equipment (2 soccer balls, 2 volleyballs, 2 basketballs, 1 netball, 1 freesbie, 1 volleyball net, 4 tennis balls, 15 cones and 1 skipping rope.) and many kids came and played. In school they are having an examination period followed by a holiday (18 aug – 4 sep) so the PE won’t start until the 5th of September. I am going to Cape Town for university 1 – 10 sep so my work in school will start after that. I have met with some in the local “SCORE-committee” (witch was formed two month ago) and I will have formal meeting with all of them on Thursday. On Friday I was introduced to all the students at the school (more tan 600). They were singing for me and they all laughed when I told them my surname; it is very hard for them to pronounce “Rosengren”.
The landscape here in Ovamboland is very special; totally flat with small trees and bushes on a floor of red sand. From Tsumeb, the nearest town, it is 96 km straight road with nothing but bush to see. After 96 km there is a control station with a few houses and huts surrounding it – welcome to Oshivelo. The road continues straight ahead towards Angola.
Yesterday we were going to get some Omahangu, the kind of corn they crush to meal and then cook to a hard porridge. Barney had traded a bed that he welded for 5 big bags of Omahangu. We tied the bed to his pickup and off we went – two in the seats and me and three other boys in the back standing with the wind in our faces. After going north on a totally straight road we turned right on what first looked like a road but soon became a 20 m wide strip of sand, also this totally straight. We drove on that sand strip for about 40 minutes, sometimes stopping so Barney could try to shoot some birds! We left the wide sand strip for some smaller tracks and soon arrived at the homestead. This was truly “The bush”. The homestead consisted of 5 huts surrounded by a fence made of branches. One of the boys (who go to school in Oshivelo) showed me his room, his hut. The Omahangu was kept in a giant basket large enough to stand in. When we later returned to the car with our filled bags the big red sun was already setting over the vast landscape.
Over the weekend I went with Barney to visit his family in Grootfontain. He has two wonderful children; Brandon (6) and Vicky (2). His wife Consetta is Damara-speaking but at home they mostly speak Afrikaans. (They all know all the four languages Afrikaans, Oshiwambo, Damara-nama and English.) The family is very important (and very big!) here in Namibia. Before Barney and Consetta were married she used to live with her family in “the location”, a township a couple of kilometres from their house. It is easy to see the connection between small material assets and a strong family. Consetta told me that she was bored in her house and went down to the location almost every day. Here they often don’t make a distinction between brothers or sisters and cousins; they are all brothers and sisters. A big part of everyday life here is visiting family and friends. I have said hallo to many mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins and friends the last couple of days.
I tell you more soon! Internet is 96 km away so I’m not online every day :) Have a wonderful day!
Now I have been in Oshivelo for 7 days. I live in Mr. Marthinu’s (Barney) house; he is a teacher at the only school here. His wife and children live in Grootfontain, about 150 km from here so he often goes there in the weekends. He has one of the finest houses in Oshivelo, with electricity, TV, video, gas stove and running water (only cold). Barney speaks Oshivambo, the most common language in this region and the largest tribe language in Namibia. The other language in Oshivelo is Damara, recognized for its four different click sounds. Oshivelo is very poor and many people live in small huts made of trees or sheet metal. The people here are very friendly and there are lots of kids who want to play with me. The other day I went to the playing field with my equipment (2 soccer balls, 2 volleyballs, 2 basketballs, 1 netball, 1 freesbie, 1 volleyball net, 4 tennis balls, 15 cones and 1 skipping rope.) and many kids came and played. In school they are having an examination period followed by a holiday (18 aug – 4 sep) so the PE won’t start until the 5th of September. I am going to Cape Town for university 1 – 10 sep so my work in school will start after that. I have met with some in the local “SCORE-committee” (witch was formed two month ago) and I will have formal meeting with all of them on Thursday. On Friday I was introduced to all the students at the school (more tan 600). They were singing for me and they all laughed when I told them my surname; it is very hard for them to pronounce “Rosengren”.
The landscape here in Ovamboland is very special; totally flat with small trees and bushes on a floor of red sand. From Tsumeb, the nearest town, it is 96 km straight road with nothing but bush to see. After 96 km there is a control station with a few houses and huts surrounding it – welcome to Oshivelo. The road continues straight ahead towards Angola.
Yesterday we were going to get some Omahangu, the kind of corn they crush to meal and then cook to a hard porridge. Barney had traded a bed that he welded for 5 big bags of Omahangu. We tied the bed to his pickup and off we went – two in the seats and me and three other boys in the back standing with the wind in our faces. After going north on a totally straight road we turned right on what first looked like a road but soon became a 20 m wide strip of sand, also this totally straight. We drove on that sand strip for about 40 minutes, sometimes stopping so Barney could try to shoot some birds! We left the wide sand strip for some smaller tracks and soon arrived at the homestead. This was truly “The bush”. The homestead consisted of 5 huts surrounded by a fence made of branches. One of the boys (who go to school in Oshivelo) showed me his room, his hut. The Omahangu was kept in a giant basket large enough to stand in. When we later returned to the car with our filled bags the big red sun was already setting over the vast landscape.
Over the weekend I went with Barney to visit his family in Grootfontain. He has two wonderful children; Brandon (6) and Vicky (2). His wife Consetta is Damara-speaking but at home they mostly speak Afrikaans. (They all know all the four languages Afrikaans, Oshiwambo, Damara-nama and English.) The family is very important (and very big!) here in Namibia. Before Barney and Consetta were married she used to live with her family in “the location”, a township a couple of kilometres from their house. It is easy to see the connection between small material assets and a strong family. Consetta told me that she was bored in her house and went down to the location almost every day. Here they often don’t make a distinction between brothers or sisters and cousins; they are all brothers and sisters. A big part of everyday life here is visiting family and friends. I have said hallo to many mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins and friends the last couple of days.
I tell you more soon! Internet is 96 km away so I’m not online every day :) Have a wonderful day!
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